Soooo....Is it time to shut up about Kirk?

The last game showed how our offense is supposed to look: maddening.  If you sell out to stop Cook, we have 3 receivers that'll burn you.  While we don't have the TE we were expecting this year, Conklin is happy to disappear in the chaos at the snap and reappear, wide open, and is reliable.  Try and cover all the receiving threats, and we'll run right by you and/or kill you with screens.

We couldn't do all that consistently with the middle of the o-line so useless in recent years...but they're gelling, finally, and that could be VERY good news going forward.

The defense...eh...I'll just say this: whatever Dantzler is doing or not doing to stay demoted, I hope it gets settled...because Breeland is, genuinely, the WORST starting CB in the NFL right now.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said: Gotta love the seahawks twitter sadness https://twitter.com/BradyHenderson/status/1442353693630746639

read the comments.   :'(

LOL,  where have I read those before.   Reminds me of a scene from Tombstone and explains why Vikings fans hate the Seahawks. 

Doc: And you must be Ringo. Look, darling, Johnny Ringo. The deadliest pistoleer since Wild Bill, they say. What do you think, darling? Should I hate him?
Big Nose Kate: You don't even know him.
Doc: Yes, but there's just something about him. Something around the eyes, I don't know, reminds me of... me. No. I'm sure of it, I hate him.

 I will say Sunday was a nice game,  but I am not ready to say anything we saw in week one is corrected.  We played at home, we played a team that has been struggling as bad as we have lately, and we had a few football bounces go our way.  I think the Browns will be a bigger challenge for our OL and should show better how gelled they are,  I dont know that I will have a real good idea what we have for positives until we make it through that gauntlet from mid october until the end of november.  that is a meat grinder right there.

I saw this on Twitter.

Some context on Cousins thru 50 starts.

Kirk Cousins’ last 13 games:

32 TDs
3 INTs

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) September 26, 2021

@"MaroonBells" said: https://twitter.com/Str8_Cash_Homey/status/1442269977621323776?s=20

I keep asking myself, is KC on a hot streak? Or has he reached a new plateau of play? One that's sustainable? 

When I look at the remaining schedule? I sure hope it's the latter.

Besides, Viking fans deserve nice things once in a while. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: https://twitter.com/Str8_Cash_Homey/status/1442269977621323776?s=20

I keep asking myself, is KC on a hot streak? Or has he reached a new plateau of play? One that's sustainable? 

When I look at the remaining schedule? I sure hope it's the latter.

Besides, Viking fans deserve nice things once in a while. 

I think that continuity is helping him a great deal in that the system is an evolution of what he had before, and I also think that the team-especially the oline-is gelling far better than last year.  We obviously still have the Breeland dumpster fire and our run D isn't close to what we hoped...but our offense is producing among the best in the league, and we know that all of our skill players are ambitious...so, I think our best games lie ahead.

QBs often have a good season after their team drafts a QB in the early rounds.  He also got some time to throw Sunday which has been in short supply so often.  And as others mentioned continuity helps.

 The oline improvement is surprising considering how consistently inept it's been for years under Zimmer.  Maybe the new coach is finally a good one.

But it is Kirk so I'm not measuring him for a bust in Canton and there's always the possibility of one of those special wtf Kirk performances appearing out of nowhere. 

@"comet52" said: QBs often have a good season after their team drafts a QB in the early rounds.  He also got some time to throw Sunday which has been in short supply so often.  And as others mentioned continuity helps.

 The oline improvement is surprising considering how consistently inept it's been for years under Zimmer.  Maybe the new coach is finally a good one.

But it is Kirk so I'm not measuring him for a bust in Canton and there's always the possibility of one of those special wtf Kirk performances appearing out of nowhere. 

Right, but if you're honest with yourself, you know that all QBs have games like that. If Cousins puts up 133 yds, 0 TDs, 2 INTs for a passer rating of 36, I'm sure the haters would be very vocal. That was Aaron Rodgers performance week 1. He actually had a worse game last year in Tampa. Yeah, I know, a Super Bowl and a couple MVPs and all is forgiven, but the point remains: all QBs put up stinkers. And I'm sure Cousins will have one or two of those as well. 

Regarding the line, maybe the coach is helping, but I think it's just natural development of highly drafted players. I mean, my god, not many NFL teams can boast of a 1st rounder and two 2nd rounders heading into their 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons. A line with that kind of pedigree really should eventually play pretty well. Add another 1st rounder in Darrisaw, and a 3rd rounder in Davis and we should be set for some time. And I didn't even mention Oli Udoh, who might eventually be the best of all of them. 

I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

@"Kentis" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

Well exactly, why wasn’t Udoh tried there last year…!?

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

Well exactly, why wasn’t Udoh tried there last year…!?

Cuz they were trying him at tackle?  Dunno, most people here thought he was gonna be our next RT when O'Neill switched to LT.

Just pointing out that it appears that Dozier didn't have much competition last year.  He quickly lost to Udoh this year.  That is on the talent evaluators and the drafting in my book.  Not sure who all that includes.

At this point, I am happy we finally have talent and coaching at the same time.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: QBs often have a good season after their team drafts a QB in the early rounds.  He also got some time to throw Sunday which has been in short supply so often.  And as others mentioned continuity helps.

 The oline improvement is surprising considering how consistently inept it's been for years under Zimmer.  Maybe the new coach is finally a good one.

But it is Kirk so I'm not measuring him for a bust in Canton and there's always the possibility of one of those special wtf Kirk performances appearing out of nowhere. 

Right, but if you're honest with yourself, you know that all QBs have games like that. If Cousins puts up 133 yds, 0 TDs, 2 INTs for a passer rating of 36, I'm sure the haters would be very vocal. That was Aaron Rodgers performance week 1. He actually had a worse game last year in Tampa. Yeah, I know, a Super Bowl and a couple MVPs and all is forgiven, but the point remains: all QBs put up stinkers. And I'm sure Cousins will have one or two of those as well. 

Regarding the line, maybe the coach is helping, but I think it's just natural development of highly drafted players. I mean, my god, not many NFL teams can boast of a 1st rounder and two 2nd rounders heading into their 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons. A line with that kind of pedigree really should eventually play pretty well. Add another 1st rounder in Darrisaw, and a 3rd rounder in Davis and we should be set for some time. And I didn't even mention Oli Udoh, who might eventually be the best of all of them. 

@"Kentis" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

Well exactly, why wasn’t Udoh tried there last year…!?

Players make the coaches in the NFL....Flip the script in College. 

@"medaille" said: I think the thing we need to really stop doing is trying to nitpick which one person is the reason for all the problems or toggling between the black and white choices of Cousins is perfect and Cousins is garbage.  This is a team sport, and there is a lot of room for shades of gray.

I think it’s pretty clear that Cousins is playing some of
the best ball of his career recently, but that hasn’t really led to wins, and he
hasn’t been the primary issue in those losses, but he also hasn’t really
carried the team on his back.  One win doesn’t
really mean that we’re on a new trajectory, or that this is the new normal for
the Vikings.  I do feel pretty confident in
saying that if you want to get the most out of Cousins, focus on the
OLine.  They played well today.  Keep them playing well.

100% agree

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Kentis" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"Kentis" said: I think Rauscher deserves a ton of credit. Look, he’s the guy that thought Udoh could move inside to guard & be a potentially really good one. While his  predecessor, VirtualRico™️, thought Dozier was the answer…  :o  Hmmm…  ;) 

Cuz Rauscher wasn't part of the coaching last year and Dozier didn't start at the top this year?  And Dennison is still with the team, so none of that really matters.

I think we didn't have anyone to challenge Dozier last year, sadly enough.  Who else was there, Samia?  Udoh was still at Tackle last year.  

Well exactly, why wasn’t Udoh tried there last year…!?

He was. He got snaps at guard last year.

I don't think it's some big coaching secret. The truth is that the Vikings simply have good players on the line now. In 2018, it's obvious to me they shifted their OL draft strategy from 3rd and 4th rounders to 1st and 2nd rounders. It started in 2018 when they drafted O'Neill in the 2nd round. Bradbury in the 1st round in 2019. Cleveland in the 2nd round in 2020. Then Darrisaw in the 1st this year. That makes a difference.